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Saturday, January 31, 2015

Easy Low-Carb Southwest Egg Casserole (Gluten-Free, Meatless)

This delicious Southwestern Egg Casserole uses ingredients you probably have on hand!

I try to keep my fridge well-stock with vegetables and in the section for Low-Carb recipes you'll find an assortment of egg casseroles ideas that include veggies like Kale, Broccoli, Swiss Chard, Spinach, bell peppers, mushrooms, and even asparagus when it's in season. But this Easy Low-Carb Southwest Egg Casserole is a recipe I came up with many (many!) years ago when the vegetable crisper was empty and I didn't want to go to the store. The recipe uses drained canned tomatoes, canned green chiles, Mexican blend cheese, spices and eggs to create a delicious breakfast casserole that uses ingredients you probably always have on hand. I love this with a generous dollop or sour cream and salsa to continue the southwestern flavors; hope you enjoy!

This recipe uses 18 eggs for a large casserole that makes 8-10 servings. It keeps in the fridge for at least a week, but if you don't want that many servings, I'd cut the recipe in half but still use the whole can of tomatoes and green chiles (or you could substitute a can of tomatoes with green chiles for the smaller version, that would be perfect.)

I'm trying my best to post a Meatless Monday recipe on the weekend for people who want an idea for something meatless to cook on Monday, and this breakfast casserole that I'm updating with new photos is something I'd enjoy for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. (If you want more ideas, I also have a very active Meatless Monday Pinterest board with ideas from blogging friends, and feature a weekly recipe for Meatless Monday at BlogHer.com.)

(This recipe was updated with better photos, January 2015.)

Dump the tomatoes into a colander placed in the sink and let them drain well. Beat the eggs in a bowl and then add the drained tomatoes, diced green chiles, salt and pepper, and Spike Seasoning. Spray the baking dish with olive oil or non-stick spray, put the 2 cups grated cheese in the bottom of the dish, top with the sliced green onions if using, pour over the egg mixture, and stir with a fork to combine.

Sprinkle the other 1/2 cup grated cheese over the top and bake in a preheated 375F/190C oven about 40 minutes, or until eggs are completely set and the casserole is lightly browned on top. Serve hot, with sour cream and salsa if desired.

And just for fun, here's the previous photo for this recipe, which I probably thought was pretty good at the time!

Southwestern Egg Casserole
(Makes 8-10 servings, recipe created by Kalyn when the veggie crisper was bare.)

Preheat oven to 375F/190C. Open tomatoes and pour into a colander placed in the sink to drain. Spray glass or ceramic casserole dish with non-stick spray or olive oil. (I used a dish that was 9 inches x 13 inches but any size close to that will work.)

In large bowl, beat eggs until well-combined, then mix in well-drained tomatoes, green chiles with any juice, salt and pepper to taste, and Spike seasoning. Put 2 cups of grated cheese in bottom of casserole dish. Sprinkle the cheese with green onions if using, then pour egg mixture over. (I like to take a fork and gently mix so all the cheese is well distributed in the egg.) Sprinkle the other 1/2 cup cheese over the top.

Bake uncovered about 40 minutes, or until eggs are well set and top is starting to brown slightly. Serve casserole hot with a dollop of sour cream on top and a few spoonfuls of salsa on top.

Egg casseroles can be kept in the fridge for at least a week and reheated in the microwave or in a hot toaster oven. (I used to freeze casseroles like this, but freezing releases a lot of liquid from the egg and now I greatly prefer just to store them in the fridge.

If you're making this for the South Beach Diet, they would recommend using reduced-fat cheese; that would make this recipe approved for any phase of the South Beach Diet. For other types of Low-Carb eating plans, use any blend of cheese you'd like.

Nutritional Information?

I chose the South Beach Diet to manage my weight partly so I wouldn't have to count calories, carbs, points, or fat grams, but if you want nutritional information for a recipe, I recommend entering the recipe into Calorie Count, which will calculate it for you.

More Meatless Breakfast Ideas to Try:
(Recipes from other blogs may not always be South Beach Diet friendly; check ingredients.)

Posts may include links to my affiliate account at Amazon.com, and this blog earns a few cents on the dollar if readers purchase the items I recommend, so thanks for supporting my blog when you shop at Amazon!

I'm not a huge salsa fan, so while this isn't my favorite egg casserole, I liked it. My husband will probably love it (he's out of town right now, but I'll freeze him some). I had mushrooms I had to use up, so I sauteed those with four green onions and added that. I also used 9 eggs and 1.75 cup egg sub. I didn't have Spike, but used Slap Ya Mama instead (http://www.slapyamama.com/) -- it's just a blend of salt, garlic powder, black pepper, and red pepper.

I used to make this all the time when my kids were younger. But I used Tony's and put jalapenos like my mother always did. Cook it up, slice and stick it in the frige. Kids could warm up their own breakfast in the am before school - one they liked! This is a yummy recipe - karen.

I love putting salsa on my eggs. Adding veggies helps too because I am not the biggest egg fan. I usually do scrambled egg whites with veggies. The casserole looks good though and I like that it feeds a lot of people!

I usually try to get the cooking done ahead of time when I'm entertaining. Next weekend I'm making brunch for some wonderful friends who love spicy food. This recipe looks like it fits the bill. Thanks.

Love the spicy little wallop this Southwestern Egg Casserole would pack---just the sort of breakfast I long to wake up to.

Thanks also for sharing a link to the Egg & Artichoke Casserole on Inn Cuisine. That particular recipe came to me by way of an inn owner in San Antonio, Texas. She also sent me a recipe for Texas-style eggs Benedict that I've been dying to try. I bet it packs a wallop too!

Kalyn,My daughter is getting married and will be having her wedding stretch over 3 days. We are planning a Sunday brunch, but will be arriving at the destination the Wednesday before. We hope to cook ahead for the Sunday brunch and are interested in using some of your recipes. My question: do I make the casserole, freeze it, thaw, then cook or do I make the casserole, cook, cool down, freeze, then thaw and reheat? Thanks for any help you can give me!Jo

JoAnn,If there's any possible way to do it, I would cook this right before it's going to be eaten for a special event like that. Although this sort of casserole can be frozen, it's definitely better made fresh. You could mix all the ingredients the night before and store them in the refrigerator until you're ready to bake. You might even be able to mix them a few days in advance, although I haven't tried that.

Another option, if it's only going to be a few days later, you could cook it ahead and just store the cooked casserole in the refrigerator until the day you need it, then reheat in the oven for a few minutes. (Or it can be reheated in the microwave but that would be hard to do for a whole casserole.)

Just took this out of the oven, half Eggbeaters, half real eggs, and it looks delicious! I can't tell you how grateful I am for this blog. My husband and I love to cook, and have been doing SB for about two months now. He has lost 20 pounds, me, 11. We do our cooking for the week on Sunday, and we were getting pretty bored with the egg cups in the SB book. Every recipe we have tried from your blog has been wonderful. We are confident we will be able to stick with it, because of all the great recipes. Thanks so much!

Am I honestly the only one considering subbing a can of Rotel diced tomatoes with green chiles for this recipe? I've been scrambling eggs with them for months already (I drain them well but saute them a little in extra-virgin olive oil to boil out the last of the juices) but it would be nice to have something in the fridge I can just toss in the microwave when I'm running late.

Made this recipe this morning by using 500 grams (1 small carton) of egg whites (about equal to 8 whole eggs)and 10 eggs, it worked wonderfully! I also added some chopped peppers, fresh spinach,chopped 4 slices of back bacon, and fresh cilantro! I found this blog by looking for gestational diabetes friendly recipes and I figured south beach fit the bill! Thanks so much!

Thanks for joining the conversation! I love hearing from readers and even though I can't always reply to every comment, I will always answer specific questions on a recipe as soon as possible. Sometimes I'm answering by iPhone, so my replies may be short!

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